New Jersey and Virginia announced the victory of the Republican party in their gubernatorial elections on Tuesday.
Various factors, including high unemployment rates, economic difficulties, and mixed feeling on Obama's health care and environmental reforms contributed to a shift towards the Republican party, The Washington Post reported.
Republicans declared their victory as a sign of constituent hesitation towards Obama's proposed national health care reform, and Democrats claimed that the victory's meaning had been exaggerated by the media, said Tom Carsey, a UNC political science professor.
"I think the effects will be fairly minimal. I think the press will give attention to this win as a move for the Republican party and as a counterbalancing swing after Obama's election, but it's not uncommon for these two states to elect the party that lost the presidential election."
Carsey said the Republicans' victory would have little affect on Obama's future policies.
"I think that the Democratic party and Obama Administration will continue to try to make progress on the things they want to make progress on and they're to do what they can to help the economy," he said.
What you're saying:
"Well, I guess the change Obama promised wasn't happening as quick as voters wanted, so if Democrats don't want to lose more seats, the Obama Administration should work on keeping promises." - Liana Roux, sophomore, english and anthropology, Fayetteville
"I don't really know how far state politics plays in federal elections. I know Virginia is stereotypically right and I don't think it's surprising they elected a Republican governor. It's more likely there are political tactics in publicizing the election of Republican governors into previously Democratic offices." - Thomas Edwards, senior, biology, Nashville, Tenn.
"Well, I think the way things now are, it won't make a difference. So if anything, it makes it more difficult because he still is in the honeymoon period. Even though people seem increasingly disillusioned with Obama, I think his party holds enough strength in Congress for these results not to have effect." - Eugenia Navarro, political science and economics, sophomore, Washington, D.C.
"I feel like Obama's going to continue to do what he's doing. I feel like the Republican governor will have their say about Obama's actions, but he won't change because of their opinions. He has the support of the people." - Precious Ogbuefi, freshman, nursing, Atlanta, Ga.
"We learned about this in POLI 100. There's always a shift in party identifications during certain crises. Because of that change, it might influence administration to change their policy, but as of now I don't see Obama changing his proposed policies." - Albert Sostre, sophomore, political science and spanish, Bronx, N.Y
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